set aside a divorce judgment

This question hinges on California Family law code section 2122, which talks about the grounds for moving to set aside a divorce settlement.

The 2-year statute on my divorce judgement is 1Apr. In our mediated settlement, my ex wife insisted on taking all of our savings ($836K), partly claiming she had received a large inheritance 9 years previous ($660K, commingled with our investments), and partly w/ an absurd claim of pre-marriage property going back 25 years (a down pmt on a house prior to marriage that led to a large profit a year after marriage).

Prior to the inheritance, we had about $250K in investments/savings. I had $42K of my own inheritance mixed in with that, and had added to our savings in other major ways.

I want to move to set aside the settlement, but wondering if its possible to base this on a claim of duress (that and mental incapacity are the only two grounds for setting aside up to two years after a settlement)? How strict is the definition of duress, or would a judge consider my clinical depression, general guilt (no adultery however) and inability to ever find common ground with my ex? I.e., this was another manifestation of our constant arguing.

My question is, in CA family law, what are the criteria for a claiming duress in this situation. What might a judge consider an acceptable explanation? Also, what about spousal fiduciary responsibility? Isn't this a breach of that principle?

Once the judge reaches a decision, he or she grants the divorce and
enters a judgment finalizing the divorce and all related issues. Do you want to set aside a settlement or a judgment? You can check FindLaw's Learn About the Law page to research different topics of law. All the links provided below include helpful legal information. Good luck.

The settlement was part of a judgment entered 1Apr 2008, so I suppose the answer is to set aside the judgment and renegotiate the divorce settlement, correct? Basically I'm trying to gauge my chances as to whether the judge would agree to do that, given how lopsided the settlement was and how hastily executed with a mediator, rather than independent counsel. Thanks.